Hanoi & the world

Hanoi needs EIB’s support to develop urban railway

Hanoi needs EIB’s support to develop urban railway (Photo VNA)

Hanoi hopes to
continue having the European Investment Bank (EIB)’s company in developing its
urban railway system, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen
The Hung told Vice President of the bank Jonathan Taylor at their working
session in Hanoi on January 10.

Hung said transport infrastructure and
environmental protection are among issues that Hanoi is actively addressing
since it has a big population of nearly 10 million, over six million motorbikes
and 600,000 cars.

The Prime Minister has approved a planning
scheme to build nine urban railway routes in Hanoi with a total length of about
410km, including nearly 70km underground.

The city has built a roadmap to reduce personal
vehicles. It will prohibit motorbikes in the inner city by 2030 and focus on
developing public transport means like buses.

The capital is carrying out two urban railway
routes. The first phrase of the No.3 is underway with a length of 15km,
including four km running underground, using official development assistance
(ODA) capital from multiple foreign sources, including the EIB.

Last August, the bank signed an agreement
supplementing 68 million EUR for the project, raising its financial assistance
to 141 million EUR, making up nearly 15 percent of the project’s total capital.

So far, Hanoi has disbursed 50 million EUR and
is speeding up the progress of the project.

Apart from transport infrastructure development,
the city is focusing on measures to protect the environment, especially solid
waste treatment, Hung said.

With long-term cooperation experience, Hanoi
hopes the EIB will provide financial support and help European businesses to
invest in the field.

Taylor said his bank will continue working with
Vietnam and Hanoi to address environmental issues, especially mitigating the
impacts of climate change.

The early building of a cooperation mechanism is
essential to ensure the best efficiency of the projects, he noted.

Taylor is leading a high-level delegation from
the EIB to visit Hanoi from January 8-10.

The bank is owned by 28 EU members. Since 1998, it
has approved investments worth over 710 million EUR in Vietnam, mostly in
projects on transport, climate and renewable energy.-VNA